Little Keep on the Prairie (updated)

Little Keep on the Prairie (Updated)

A place-your-keep invasion scenario set in the New World. Establish a pious settlement. Expand your population. Prepare to fight off the hostile native tribes sweeping in over the Great Plains.

The Story

It is the year of our Lord 1520. The King has established a foothold in the New World. His Majesty has decreed that it is now time to expand into the vast interior of the Continent.

As you walk down the steps of the Grand Colonial Office in Hopetown you hold in your hand the scroll via which His Majesty has communicated his orders: -

You and others like you are each allocated a region of the Great Plains. You are to establish a township and expand to a healthy population. Our colonies need people if we are to outstrip our competitors in the New World. Our missionaries have already passed through your assigned area. Some of the natives now follow our church and only wait for you to show signs of our commitment to colonise the plains. Remember: You carry with you the teachings of the Church and the honour of Our Kingdom. Go forth and multiply!

H.R.

While striding down the deserted, early morning, thoroughfare towards the stables, you mull over the words of His Majesty's Hopetown Representative. "The friendly natives are sure to join you if you establish a secure fortification and ensure that the Church plays a prominent role in your town. However, there are several hostile tribes out that way. In particular the Rat, Snake, Pig and Wolf tribes will likely give you trouble. You are expected to pacify your allocated area. Hopefully they will not become aware of your presence out in the vast plain until you have become established, by which time you should have no problem dealing with them. They have only bows and spears and are a rag tag bunch. Fortunately the tribes have never been known to co-operate. As you know, you will need to buy in all your wood for construction.(Drought and the ravages of the buffalo keep the plains devoid of trees). You will get all you need, aside from stone, from regular traders via the wagon trail. No traders are hauling stone out that far. Just too heavy I suppose. Oh! I hear that there are troupes of travelling players planning to visit the larger new towns along the wagon trail. I suppose they imagine that there will be money to be made from His Majesty's loyal colonial subjects. His Majesty hopes to reassign you in August 1533 so you have until then to achieve your goals."

Your scribe, Michael, awaits you outside the stables. "It is the plains then Sire?", he asks raising an eyebrow. You nod in confirmation. Michael looks worried. "Sire. We have been given precious little equipment with which to get started". You both walk towards the assembled short wagon train. It is your turn to look worried as you mount your steed and Michael steps up into the lead wagon beside you. "I hope the Representative's intelligence, about the poor armament and fragmented nature of our opposition, is correct. Because, Michael, if he's wrong ...". You signal to the lead teamster. He takes up his reigns and cracks his whip. "Haa! Haa! Get on there!"

Some Mood Music

For some mood music paste this URL into a new browser :-)
http://www.egss.demon.co.uk/stronghold/prairie/magnificentsevenmedieval3.mid

The Objectives (for the v4 update)

At Normal setting:

125 population

40% blessed

Enclose Keep

No enemy or invasions left

Duration:

Game starts January 1520

Game ends November 1533

The Hints

Do not read this if you wish to avoid reading any clues at this stage.

As your settlement develops and reaches certain milestones benefits will come your way. Native archers join you as %blessed rises and as a result of your keep being enclosed. Travelling fares visit as your population rises. Also: I think that getting your market up early on is a good idea. There are no fires.

I managed to beat it on Hard. Most decent players should be able to win on Normal (at least after a couple of attempts). I have beaten it once on Very Hard - I had to use some extreme play tactics. (It was the time limit was toughest to beat vis-a-vis recovering population and blessing after the final attack.)

Author's note

You might consider this map a sequel to my scenario, "May your god go with you". Hope you have fun.

Eric The Golf
;-)

Acknowledgements

The Title

The title and setting are inspired by the books of Laura Inglis Wilder (one of which is "Little House on the Prairie". Another is "Little Town on the Prairie").

EDIT - 20/9/06 2030hr GMT+1
Added an extra hints/walk through file (in rtf and txt format) for anyone who is stuck or who wants to see how I beat the map. It also includes the most recent version of the midi file with the drum track. DLs after No.49 will get this. The new zip ends v2.

Edit - 25/10/06 1950hr GMT+1
Added another lose condition so that game ends if your Lord dies. *embarrassed*
Sorry if this spoilt anyone's game. DL's after 133 will get this. The new zip ends v3.

Edit - 1/5/08 2130hr GMT+1
Updated the map. After playing it again, I came to the conclusion I had made it too hard when I first released it. I reduced the goals somewhat and pushed back the end date a bit to give more time to recover at the end. Sulis was kind enough to playtest it. This version4 update will be availble for download #248 onwards.

It is a pity feastcamel did not explain his review :-( It would seem he liked the map though. Which is encouraging to know :-)

Lord Gandor

Posted on 09/18/06 @ 07:53 PM

You sir, in my eyes, are a genius.

Though since I call anyone who can come up with some random, creative, and funny a genius...Awesome!!!

Little Keep on the Prairie. *chuckle*

I wish I could have come up with that...To the Gandor Cave!

Seriously, creativity is an easy 5.

ericgolfStaffFile Author

Posted on 09/19/06 @ 12:34 PM

Glad you like the title, Lord Gandor :-)

How did you get on with playing the map?

Stratego

Posted on 09/19/06 @ 05:06 PM

I'm sorry, ericgolf, but (at least) for me this map seemed to be impossible, though I read your hints.
You can't establish a well running economy in a reasonable way, and simultaneously fight back the increasing assaults.
After several frustrating and vain attempts (even on normal setting) I decided to surrender...

...has anyone beaten this thing?

[Edited on 09/19/06 @ 05:09 PM]

ericgolfStaffFile Author

Posted on 09/19/06 @ 05:42 PM

Stratego, Can I ask:
Where are you placing your keep?

I had not thought I had made it impossibly difficult. I have just tonight beaten it on Very Hard. (Only just. My population had bearly recovered after the final attack and I had to dismantle most of my keep to get more stone in panic to build chapels. I made the 50% blessed just with zero months remaining).

I suppose it is due to me knowing the map so well. But I usually don't beat maps on VHard. I tend to play on Hard or Normal. To win on V.Hard I was using what some would call extreme play. (I did not need extreme play on Normal or Hard)

I can email you with details of the strategy I used. Or why don't you mail me and I can reply. david(at)egss(dot)demon.co.uk

Spoiler alert *******

I will say that I built my market first and traded like mad at the start (and all the way through), kicking off with apples for early cash flow.

End Spoiler Alert ******

I only uploaded it on Saturday so I wasn't expecting anyone else to have beaten it on the harder settings yet :-)

[Edited on 09/19/06 @ 06:22 PM]

ericgolfStaffFile Author

Posted on 09/20/06 @ 03:23 PM

In case anyone else has hit a brick wall on solving this I am going to add a further hints/walk through file to the download.

It is done. See edit at end of description.

To Stratego, Thanks for the heads-up on the difficulty aspect of the map :-)

[Edited on 09/20/06 @ 04:39 PM]

God Avo

Posted on 09/20/06 @ 05:26 PM

Oh yeah I forgot to ask earlier, ericgolf - did you draw those pictures which went into the description? Because I do abit of graphics work myself, and if you need any pictures such as your attached ones just e-mail me and I'll see what I can do (as I've got alot of spare time here at home after school XD )